Daily Times

Ever since I have come back to my homeland Pakistan, a question keeps popping up every now and then – both in my own head and in my utterly mundane and overly formalized talks with both older and younger Pakistanis all of whom in their self-absorbed oblivion think of themselves as intellectual powerhouses out there to analyze the countless troubles that this society faces. The question is a difficult one and to me it seems it has answers that are even more difficult to digest.

Nonetheless to talk of answers at this moment would be pointless. First it is important to lay out the question at hand.

I am asked very frequently that after seeing the United States which presumably is the zenith of all civilization, that “what Pakistan needs to progress as a society?” This is particularly pertinent because during my time in the United States I studied a policy degree and must have new ideas to apparently reform my beloved homeland.

Yet, many a times instead of talking and engaging with the people who question – all of whom I am sure have best of their intentions in mind – I rather choose to stay quiet and only speak limited words and give non-leading answers so that the conversations can dissipate into things less sensitive.

But lately I have decided to take a more creatively shrewd approach of answering this question in my own head and through this article – as I am thoroughly terrified of expressing my views in the taboo-shackled society and its swanky yet all so repressive drawing rooms.

I feel what Pakistan needs as a society is not something radically out of reach – Pakistan I feel in addition to its veil of innocence needs more Parking Lots. Yes! I said it, Pakistan just needs more parking lots.

For too long us Pakistanis have been deprived of this basic civic facility which doesn’t only provide us with space to station our ever growing entourage of motor vehicles, but perhaps more importantly helps us satisfy our Freudian needs

For those of you who might think that I have lost my sense of reality, let me explain! Pakistan needs more parking lots , and particularly those that are secluded and un-monitored during evenings. For too long us Pakistanis have been deprived of this basic civic facility which doesn’t only provide us with space to station our ever growing entourage of motor vehicles, but perhaps more importantly helps us satisfy our Freudian needs – needs of which we dare not talk about yet which in the shadiness of tinted windowed cars and parking lots come burgeoning out in all their climactic exuberance.

I think I should stop being sarcastic now and instead of indirect allusions speak somewhat directly of the one of the central issues Pakistan faces. That central issue is the inability of most Pakistanis to safely and without stigma have sex outside the union of marriage and this inability manifests in their trapped state of repressiveness. Societies like the United States and the West in particular has long found both personal and intellectual freedom in eroticism. And that I fundamentally think is one of the main differences between a society like Pakistan and United States. The changing of societies like Pakistan from repressive to libertine would take time, perhaps centuries. But there is no impediment to that kind of progress considering both local culture and religion. For instance, it took the Judaeo-christian world also centuries of struggle and repression to overcome their hangups and build societies based on personal freedoms that invigorate and drive human civilization’s growth. And given that Islam traditionally at its crux is more liberal than Christianity, the hope for a more free Near East is indeed a reality. Yet unfortunately, history is a process that strides on slowly and the change may take centuries. We Pakistanis, unfortunately find ourselves on the wrong side of history.

Having said that, I am not that naive to think that Pakistani’s don’t have sex outside marriage. They most certainly do. Yet its always shrouded in secrecy and kept firmly hidden behind a carefully constructed veil of prudishness. Perhaps, I too will have to conform to it.

But all that happens behind closed doors and tightly knit curtains most often starts with a brief stop at the side of the road or best a secluded parking lot.

Hence to answer those persistent inner and outer voices questioning – Pakistan needs a lot of things : less corruption, more education, better governance and a elite who gives a damn among other things. But let’s start with a few more parking lots I say.

The writer is Graduate Student at Cornell University in the US